This invention pertains to the art of closure devices, and, more particularly, to such devices for use with openings or apertures formed in thin plates, rigid sheets of metal, or other materials.
The invention is particularly applicable to such a closure used for covering an opening in a vehicle body panel and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention has broader applications and may advantageously be employed for other uses in a variety of different environments.
In the manufacture of vehicles, closure devices are used to permanently close various body panel apertures or openings which have served their intended purpose and are no longer required, or to perform some other useful function such as to reduce the effective diameter of an opening to a desired new size or to provide a suitable mounting surface for another component. Such openings may be requied initially for many reasons, eg., as paint discharge openings or access openings to accommodate mounting of vehicle components. These apertures should be tightly covered or filled after they have served their useful function for excluding moisture, road dirt, noise, exhaust fumes, and the like.
Conventional closure devices include a generally thin plate provided with a plurality of retaining legs or tabs. The plate is located in a manner to close or reduce the size of an aperture in a body panel from one side thereof. The legs or tabs, in turn, project through the aperture in retaining relationship with the other side of the body panel. Such arrangement is disadvantageous due to the fact that workers can scrape their hands or other areas on these projecting tabs while performing further assembly steps on the vehicle. Additionally, because of the necessary placement of the apertures in a vehicle body, prior closure devices have caused undesired piercing of adjacent components or structures upon imposition of forces such as those encountered in a collision.
It has, therefore, been considered desirable to develop a new and improved closure device and assembly which overcome the foregoing deficiencies and others while providing better and more effective operational results.